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Some gems uncovered during book purge

I feel like there are too many moving parts in my life lately. Too much of everything: too much work, too many books, too many social obligations. I already have a strong tendency to hermit, and these days it takes extra effort to drag myself anywhere for any reason.

I helped my friend pack for his cross-country move a couple of weeks ago, and in the process inherited a new bookshelf that I just couldn’t turn down. I spent the next day rearranging my entire book collection. Some stuff was purged, everything else was organized. I wanted my company to be made of paper and talk to me silently from the page. Even this was overwhelming, since the number of books in my house is quickly approaching infinity. But at least I now have more shelving space.

As is always the case with book archaeology, long-forgotten titles were discovered. Here are the few of these gems:

It’s a tiny volume. I remember reading it, and that’s all I remember about it. Away it goes.

There was a time a few years ago when for a number of months I only read non-fiction. This is the last remnant of that binge. It’s quite neat, you get to learn about and fall in love with bats (among other creatures).

This is one of the books I bought because of the indie bookseller rule: if you go to another indie, you must buy a book. This one seemed like a good choice because my own store did not have it and because I had read and loved some of Kij Johnson’s short stories before. This one is a keeper, if yet unread.

And finally, this cherry on top:

Someone gave it to me a few years ago as a not entirely ironic gift. As in, they thought I would actually read it. I never did and probably never will. I’m fairly certain the reason I never read it was not because I didn’t want to to squirm while reading about people parting with their genitals using a shaving knife, but rather the scary superimposed giant head on the cover. Off with it.

In other news, I finally got a new laptop, which means I can write from the comfort of my own chair. I’m also currently reading a delightful fantasy novel and a yet-unpublished memoir, both of which will probably make an appearance in the next post. And I finally ran for the first time in two weeks.